So I was a good girl and followed the plan yesterday. I came home after haircuts (me and girlchild), actually made it to the Giant Box Store of Long Line Hell before that (needed to go for the last month, but couldn’t bring myself to drive into the parking lot), unloaded everything, and started cooking dinner. Girlchild walked in the door and pushed me out of the kitchen (I love it when that happens), so I came in here and started finding the stuff I needed to get done before I could bind the quilt. All of that was done and taken care of before dinner, and I managed to get back up off the couch after dinner (oops, now you know we don’t eat at the table…which only happened when the boychild went to college and there was only the two of us), clean the kitchen, sign the girlchild up for college housing (is it OK if I clicked all the music-preference boxes that she hates?…it’s OK, I changed them), and then kicked her out of here so I could iron and trim the quilt and bind it.
The girlchild does actually on occasion resent the time I spend making art. Sigh.
I did actually go through the boxes looking for the bindings Mariah had already cut, but she cuts 2 1/2 inches, then folds in half and I cut 3 3/8 inches and fold in half. I debated it, using hers anyway, but then the fabric I wanted to use, it wasn’t long enough to go around. This quilt isn’t actually tiny…it’s about 22″ x 33″. So I rummaged around some more and found a dark blue, but I didn’t have enough to go all the way around, plus I liked a dark purple near the base, where all the purply triangles are, so I found a purple (ssshhhh…this one is from my stash, not Mariah’s), which made up the missing part.
The camera has totally washed those out…
So I pieced a binding and put it on…
I only spent 2 hours last night working on this…compared to 4 the night before. And another 2 or more on the drawing on Sunday and Monday nights. I figure I work on art somewhere between 10-20 hours on art on a school week. Much much more on a non-school week obviously. It really is a second job.
Anyway, I pinned all the bindings down…
You can see the purple on the bottom…
I wasn’t perfect about where it lined up, because I didn’t want to be. Plus the piecing isn’t perfect either. Also OK. I like it though. I’ll hand sew it tonight at quilt class, and will hopefully finish today. Otherwise it will have a May finish…although that might be good, because I could enter it in shows a month later than if it’s an April quilt. Not that it matters much.
Next on my list? Finish the Oasis drawing, maybe finish the big drawing, then trace the first bathtub…which needs to be done by mid-July, but I’m really aiming for end of June. Then Oasis by mid-July (OK, now we’re sounding crazy again), and the big one by the end of August. That’s the plan anyway. I’m good at that long-range stuff. I’m even good at breaking it up into smaller goals, although I can’t do that at the moment. Progress report grades are due Tuesday and I don’t even have that in my schedule. I’m kinda thinking tomorrow night, even though I’ll be tired…because progress reports don’t have to take as much time as the end of the trimester, and my TA can input stuff today, and maybe I’ll get all the warmups graded today (um, maybe? That might be crazy talking again.). Sigh. See, even in my real job, I have to project out and try to figure out if I can get stuff done. I still have two online assignments I need to get through, but that means I need my prep period (lost today to admin) or my computer…which I could do today, I guess. Sigh. Too Much Crap.
And the stuff that makes me feel better in my world? Making art. Making connections with a few people, troublesome at the moment. People I care about are not happy with me, and it makes me feel like a lame person…although it shouldn’t. It’s all about my putting my foot down on the line between work and the rest of my life, and that has upset some people, because they think I didn’t put it far enough out, but I know it’s what’s best for me. And there aren’t a lot of people out there looking out for me at that level, so I have to do it. And I feel the criticism (hear it even), and I’m just not in the mood to deal with it. I do not know really what it is like to raise kids in a marriage, so I don’t assume I do, but I do know what it’s like to do it without that…and sure, if it’s not a good marriage, that’s a whole ‘nother nest of problems, but I still know you can’t imagine what it’s like to do it alone. And I’m lucky in that their dad is still around, but still…it’s not like doing it alone.
Besides, I think I’m just a strange little beast who feels things differently than most. It’s not easy to explain the artistic drive to those who don’t have it. And mine is strong.
Anyway…binding tonight…here was the dog last night when I was trying to find somewhere to put the ironing board so I could get to the sewing machine…
I really need to clean the office out this summer…that pile of papers and notebooks and boxes near her does not need to be in here.
I’m starting the day feeling a little lost, but also happy to be finishing this quilt. I found out that the other one for this show will be in the summer issue of Fiber Art Now in an article on my art group and the show we’re doing over the summer, Diverted Destruction, so that’s cool. Keep looking at all the good things and let the bad things just fall away. Don’t need them.
Kathy Nida 